Officials are concerned that a lingering sense of hopelessness among quake victims may drive them to take their own lives. Authorities have provided hotlines, therapy and counseling in hopes of averting more deaths.

Reporting from Tokyo— Naoko Sugimoto has heard the news through the nation's fledgling mental health grapevine, ominous reports of suicides in the region devastated by last month's magnitude 9 earthquake and tsunami. It's a trickle she fears may soon become a river: the farmer who hanged himself, distressed about a cabbage harvest ruined by radioactive fallout from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant; the overworked government worker near the complex who took his life; the father who killed himself after a fruitless search for his child after the tsunami. "I feel sorry for these people in the same way I do for those who died in the tsunami," said Sugimoto, 67, who heads a national suicide support group, Izoku Shien. "But they didn't die in the tsunami; they died afterward. They took their own lives. And that makes you ask yourself, 'What could we have done?'"

They're dubbed "generation ni-ni" in Spain – those adults who still live at home and are neither working nor studying after the Spanish term "ni estudian, ni trabajan", but the phenomenon is by no means confined to Spain.

In Italy they are known as "bamboccioni" – or big babies – where nearly 60 per cent of 18-34 year old adults still live in their parents' home, up from almost 50 per cent since 1983. Once kept there by a love for mama's home-cooked pasta, the economic crisis has seen a boom in adults left unable to hold down a steady job or afford a home of their own. Last year a government minister, who admitted his mother washed his underwear and made his bed for him until he was 30, demanded a law obliging young Italians to leave the parental nest at 18 to stop them becoming hopelessly dependent on their parents. In the UK, the government has coined the term NEETS – not in employment, education or training. In England alone the proportion of NEETS aged 19-24 surged to 18.8 per cent of the age group, in the last quarter of 2010, up 1.4 per cent on the same period a year before. And those British adults who still live at home during their twenties and into their thirties have been somewhat cruelly dubbed KIPPERS, an acronym for "kids in parents' pockets eroding retirement savings".

Urging the U.N. Security Council to Establish a "No Fly Zone" Over Gaza under the Principle of "Responsibility to Protect" Petition Online

Ken O'Keefe: Human Chain to Spell 'NO FLY ZONE OVER PALESTINE' "Every single time another Israeli bomb drops on the innocents of Palestine, this picture shall be put forward as the demand of a truly sane and humane international community." VIDEO

The central thrust of the Obama administration response to the Gulf oil disaster—protecting BP and the oil industry as a whole—has succeeded.

BP’s fourth-quarter profits for 2010 were up 30 percent over 2009. Flush with cash drawn from spiraling oil prices, over the past several months BP has gone on a global shopping spree, buying up billions of dollars worth of energy deals in Russia, Brazil, Indonesia, China, India and Australia. It remains the largest lease holder in the Gulf of Mexico, and has recently signaled that it intends to resume deep-sea exploration and production. Nothing could more clearly express BP’s confidence that its financial liability for the Gulf oil disaster will be minimal. Under the Clean Water Act, it could face tens of billions in fines for the spill—but only if criminal negligence is established. There is virtually no chance the Obama administration will pursue such an outcome. From the beginning, the White House treated the disaster not as a crime, but an accident. But while from the first days of the blowout the White House moved to shield BP from federal fines and criminal investigations, financial circles warned that the London-based oil major could be crippled by what was anticipated to be an avalanche of lawsuits from those who suffered financial loss due to the disaster.

Stephen Lendman: BP Stonewalling Compensation to Gulf Residents

Defence Secretary Liam Fox will meet senior U.S. commanders today to draw up a final plan to finish Colonel Gaddafi. Before flying to Washington last night, Dr Fox warned the dictator and his commanders they face assassination unless they give up now.

[He said:] 'If the regime continues to wage war on its people, those who are involved in those command-and-control assets need to recognise that we regard them as legitimate targets. 'Those who are... controlling the regime's activities against its own people, would have to recognise the risks they would have if they were there during Nato strikes.' [He added:] 'Colonel Gaddafi is the one who is standing in the way of a peaceful resolution in Libya.'

Today's summit will see Dr Fox and General Sir David Richards, the Chief of the Defence Staff, hold talks with Pentagon chiefs including U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates and Admiral Mike Mullen, the Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff. They will discuss dramatically widening the scope of targets that Nato aircraft and drones can hit, possibly to include regime leaders.

An FBI bulletin shows that 100,000 to 300,000 American children are at the risk of becoming victims of sex traffickers which is turning into a "problem of epidemic proportion." "When we are talking about something that's become an 'epidemic' by the FBI, we need a culture shift," Andrea Powell, who works directly with children who have been sold for sex, told a Press TV correspondent in Washington. Powell says most of the child victims she works with come from poor neighborhoods and broken families. The average age a child gets involved into the sex trafficking industry in the US is between 12 and 14 years old, she adds.

Bahraini forces have detained 1041 anti-government protesters, including 64 women, since the beginning of the revolution, Bahrain Human Rights Center says. On Tuesday, people in the city of A'ali rallied in support of the detainees. As part of a crackdown on opposition protests, Saudi-backed Bahraini forces have raided hospitals and schools destroying dozens of mosques and holy sites. Also on Tuesday, a woman was injured in the northwestern village of Bani Jamrah. She was among a group of women protesters, who were trying to prevent the destruction of a religious site. Elsewhere, Saudi-backed Bahraini forces abducted two female students in Bilad al-Qadim, and four female medics in Isa Town.

Ed Hightower: Gulf allies: A record of repression and torture

Christian Zionists believe that in order to fulfill Biblical prophecy, Israel must conquer most of the Middle East. They are a growing force in American politics with ties to many powerful pro-Israel groups in Washington. Once considered a marginal doctrine among evangelicals, the dispensationalist theology of Christian Zionism includes a belief in the rapture, when the faithful are to be lifted up to Heaven while the rest of humanity—including most of the Jews—will perish.

Gilad Atzmon: Israeli Humour- Mocking Jesus on Israeli TV (Video)
Wikipedia: John Nelson Darby + Christian Zionism
Charles E. Carlson: No Biblical Support for Christian Zionism's Political Views

Over half of Egypt wants to end 30-year peace treaty with Israel - "only 36 percent of Egyptians are in favor of maintaining the treaty, compared with 54 percent who would like to see it scrapped" A poll conducted by a U.S.-based center has shown that a majority of Egyptians believe laws in their country should follow the teachings of Islam's holy book, the Quran. The survey reflects a shift toward religious conservatism. It also shows Egyptians are open to the inclusion of religious parties in a future government, although only 31 percent of them sympathize with Muslim fundamentalists.

The poll's results, released Monday, come ahead of September balloting — the first parliamentary elections since President Hosni Mubarak's ouster in February. Islamic parties are expected to make a significant showing. The poll, based on interviews with 1,000 Egyptians, was conducted by the Pew Research Center between March 24 and April 7. Its margin of error was plus or minus 4 percent.

LA Times: Egypt optimistic about its future, but not warm toward U.S.
NYT: Poll Finds Egyptians Full of Hope About the Future

The current market perception is that the impact of the terrible disaster in Japan on the global economy is likely to be limited to a shave-off of approximately 0.5% of global economic growth. The IMF's forecast for Japan was lowered from 1.6% prior to the earthquake to 1.4% in 2011. According to the IMF their initial estimates are that the damage could be twice that of the Kobe earthquake in 1995 or up to 5% of GDP. My initial estimates also called for a shave-off of global GDP growth of 0.5%.

A US rights group has taken a swipe at Long Island district's education officials for suspending students that protested against budget cuts. In a letter to the Central Islip (EYE'-slihp) district, the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) defended the students of Ralph Reed Middle School, saying they were exercising their constitutional rights. The NYCLU further argued that the protesting students "should be praised for their idealism." The union also emphasized that suspension of students runs counter to the freedom of speech.

The U.S. Department of State has proposed a new questionnaire that would make it almost impossible for some people to get a passport. The new document (PDF) would require that certain applicants submit a list of every residence and every job they've ever had since birth. In February, the department published a request in the Federal Register allowing 60 days for comment before the new rules go into effect.

The "Bradley Manning Exception to the Bill of Rights" Devastates the Credibility of the Military Justice System. The credibility of the military justice system is being undermined by the prosecution of Bradley Manning. His abusive punishment without trial violates his due process rights; his harsh treatment in solitary confinement-torture conditions violates the prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment; and now the commander-in-chief has announced his guilt before trial making a fair trial impossible. A Bradley Manning exception to the Bill of Rights is developing as the Obama administration seeks Manning’s punishment no matter what constitutional protections they violate.

On Thursday April 21, 2011 in San Francisco a group of Bradley Manning supporters protested the prosecution of Manning at a Barack Obama fundraising event. One of Manning’s supporters was able to question the president directly afterwards and during the conversation, Obama said on videotape that Manning was guilty.

AWIP: President Obama Condemns Bradley Manning's Contempt for the Rule of Law - Video

Libya's government branded a NATO airstrike on Moammar Gadhafi's Tripoli compound Monday an assassination attempt, though Libyan officials said the reclusive strongman was not there at the time of the attack.

At least two guided bombs struck the sprawling Bab al-Azizya compound, destroying a library and damaging a reception hall for visiting dignitaries. A security official at the scene told The Associated Press that four people were lightly hurt, but other reports said several were wounded.

NPR's Peter Kenyon, reporting from the de facto rebel capital of Benghazi, said government officials in Tripoli branded the strike an attempt to take out Gadhafi, but NATO insists its mission is only to degrade the regime's ability to attack civilians.

Gadhafi was not at the compound at the time of the bombardment, according to government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim. Ibrahim said three people had been killed and 45 were wounded, 15 of them seriously, at the site of the attack.

Bill Van Auken: US, NATO attempt assassination of Gaddafi - With the attack Monday morning on the Bab al-Azizyah complex in Tripoli, the US-NATO war on Libya has entered a criminal new phase that incorporates the policy of state-organized assassination. This was the third such attack on the complex where Libya’s Colonel Muammar Gaddafi lives and works. The compound was hit by a cruise missile fired from a British submarine on March 20, the second day of the US-NATO assault, and again on April 23, when warplanes struck a parking lot just outside of Bab al-Azizyah that reportedly was above an underground bunker. With each strike, the objective is ever more naked: the murder of Gaddafi and members of his family.

Yesterday evening mourners gathered in Ramallah and Gaza in memorial events for ISM activist Vittorio Arrigoni. The events were planned to coincide with Vittorio’s funeral in Bulciago, Italy, which was attended by hundreds of people. In Ramallah, crowds gathered outside the municipality to hear speeches made by friends, politicians and fellow solidarity activists. Those who had known and worked with Vittorio, including friends from Gaza, recounted their memories of him whilst others spoke of his dedication to Palestine and the importance of the work he had been doing in the West Bank and Gaza. From the Palestinian speakers the message was clear, this was not an act representative of the Palestinian people, and Vittorio’s death was a great loss to all who will continue the struggle for a free Palestine. Mourners also sang some of Vittorio’s favourite Italian songs in his memory. In Gaza hundreds joined together in a commemorative ceremony held in The Gallery, a cafe and social centre which Vittorio used to frequent. Here mourners shared memories of Vittorio, danced dabka and performed rap songs written about him.

Vera Macht: Vik, You Are missed

A new trove of documents released Sunday night by WikiLeaks profiles more than 700 prisoners who passed through the Guantanamo Bay detention camp between 2002 and 2009. The documents demonstrate that, even in the eyes of the US military/intelligence apparatus, there was no evidence connecting the vast majority of the prisoners to any form of terrorism, let alone terrorist threats against the United States and US citizens.

The documents consist largely of Detainee Assessment Briefs (DABs), short summaries of the alleged evidence against individual detainees, as well as accounts of their physical and mental health, how they came into US custody, their value as intelligence sources and their eventual disposition, if any. Along with the DABs on 704 prisoners—out of 779 men believed to have been imprisoned at Guantanamo for any length of time—there are documents providing guidelines for interrogators and other procedures at the US-run prison camp in Cuba.

The documents require careful review, but certain preliminary conclusions can be drawn immediately from the digests which have appeared in a dozen newspapers and magazines, some of which are collaborating with WikiLeaks and others which are openly hostile to the whistle-blower web site. There is also a useful summary posted on WikiLeaks itself (http://wikileaks.ch/gitmo/).

The Guardian: The Guantánamo Files: Info on All 779 Detainees
McClatchy: WikiLeaks: Secret Guantanamo files show U.S. disarray
Jason Ditz: US Condemns WikiLeaks Release of Gitmo Files

The Guardian: Guantánamo Bay files: Al-Qaida assassin 'worked for MI6' - An al-Qaida operative accused of bombing two Christian churches and a luxury hotel in Pakistan in 2002 was at the same time working for British intelligence, according to secret files on detainees who were shipped to the US military's Guantánamo Bay prison camp. Adil Hadi al Jazairi Bin Hamlili, an Algerian citizen described as a "facilitator, courier, kidnapper, and assassin for al-Qaida", was detained in Pakistan in 2003 and later sent to Guantánamo Bay. But according to Hamlili's Guantánamo "assessment" file, one of 759 individual dossiers obtained by the Guardian, US interrogators were convinced that he was simultaneously acting as an informer for British and Canadian intelligence. After his capture in June 2003 Hamlili was transferred to Bagram detention centre, north of Kabul, where he underwent numerous "custodial interviews" with CIA personnel.

Nearly 800 classified U.S. military documents obtained by WikiLeaks reveal extraordinary details about the alleged terrorist activities of al Qaeda operatives captured and housed at the U.S. Navy's detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

[Stop. Think. Read with Caution.] The secret documents have been made available to several news organizations, including the New York Times and the Washington Post - and some have been published by WikiLeaks, an organization that facilitates the anonymous leaking of secret information.

The documents shed light on the way detainees behaved while at Guantanamo, and on how they were assessed in terms of their danger to the United States. They are intelligence assessments of nearly every one of the 779 individuals who have been held at Guantanamo since 2002, according to the Post.

The classified files described some of the detainees as being compliant while others [allegedly] threatened violence against guards. One [allegedly] stated he would fly planes into houses.

The Guardian: Children and senile old men among detainees - Video
The Guardian: Guantánamo leaks lift lid on world's most controversial prison
PressTV: Leaked files: Innocent tortured at Gitmo
Washington Post: ses new details on whereabouts of al-Qaeda leaders on 9/11
LA Times: WikiLeaks releasing documents on Guantanamo
Monsters & Critics: Foreign agents questioned Guantanamo prisoners

Friends of Humanity International releases detailed report about the conditions of Palestinian prisoners in the Israeli jails in the last year 2010. The organization has also confirmed that this year was unusual to the Palestinian prisoners. More than 130 brutal and humiliating intrusions executed by the Israeli Prison service and forces against the Palestinians rooms and tents in many jails. Meanwhile its following up to intrusive operations, the rightful band documentized big amount of hostilities and brutal inspections assaulted by the Israeli prison service units and special forces on the prisoners rooms and tents which can be accounted as follows:

● Launching tear-gas to suffocate prisoners.
● Beating prisoners using electronic sticks.
● Confiscating prisoners possessives and belongings.
● Isolating some prisoners in individual isolating cells.
● Executing random transferring to prisoners from a prison to others as happened to Hadareem jail prisoners in which Israeli prison service units intruded and oppressed prisoners then transfer them from section 3 to section 5.
● Moreover, Israeli prisons security units destroyed walls on rooms and shifted all prisoners to a lifeless section with even no basics of living. Israeli prison authorities alleged that they were looking for forbidden-smuggled mobiles.

Senior leaders of the US Congress used appearances on CNN’s “State of the Union” program yesterday to brazenly call for the assassination of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and a major escalation of air strikes to achieve the war’s real aim—the installation of a compliant puppet regime.

Five weeks of bombing have failed to bring about Gaddafi’s downfall, primarily due to continued support for the government in the capital Tripoli and the military and political weakness of the anti-Gaddafi forces based in the eastern city of Benghazi. Opposition fighters have made no significant gains in the east of the country and pro-government troops have maintained a siege of the opposition-held western city of Misrata, despite almost daily NATO bombardments. The clear signs of a military stalemate, and a ruthless insistence that it be broken, dominate the discussion within the US establishment. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham told CNN:

“Right now there’s just not enough momentum by the rebels... So my recommendation to NATO and the administration is to cut the head of the snake off. Go to Tripoli, start bombing Gaddafi’s inner circle, their compounds, their military headquarters.”

How crooked officials pulled off a massive scam, spent millions on Dubai real estate, and killed my partner when he tried to expose them. If there remains any pretense that justice and rule of law exist in Moscow today, that notion should now be counted as pure fantasy. The case of Sergei Magnitsky -- a senior partner at my law firm who was imprisoned, tortured, and murdered after his efforts to shed light on a massive governmental fraud by Interior Ministry officials stealing subsidiaries of my client's company, the Hermitage Fund, and the $230 million of taxes they had paid -- has illuminated the cruelty and criminality of Russian legal enforcement. And new evidence released last week on YouTube as part of the broad campaign seeking justice for Sergei, goes even further -- exposing the blatant theft, impunity, and ill-gotten gains of senior Russian tax officials who were complicit in the fraud and subsequent murder of my colleague.

The very bureaucrats -- government tax officials on modest salaries in Moscow Tax Office 28 -- exposed by Sergei three years ago of perpetrating the massive fraud stashed millions of dollars in overseas bank accounts, created offshore companies, and purchased luxury villas in Dubai, Montenegro, and Moscow. Worse still, the Kremlin and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, in particular, have refused -- out of embarrassment, inability, culpability, or incompetence -- to review and prosecute what is now overwhelming evidence of this clear crime.

In oil-rich Azerbaijan, opposition supporters inspired by revolutions in the Arab world are taking to the streets and calling for a change of government. The authorities, however, will do everything it takes to hang on to power.

It is a peaceful Sunday afternoon in Baku's immaculately restored city centre. In a central square next to the ruling party's headquarters, hundreds of people stroll around the 19th Century fountain or chat with friends. But all these people have come here for a reason.

The young men in jeans, trying to look unobtrusive as they smoke cigarettes, are about to launch a protest against alleged government corruption.

Meanwhile, the crackle of walkie-talkies from business-suit pockets blows the cover of plain-clothed security officers ready to pounce. Just before the demonstration is due to start, dozens of police officers in riot uniforms troop in from all sides and quickly form a cordon around the square.

Suddenly a man shouts something. Instantly, he is lifted off the ground by four policemen. They carry him to a waiting van and throw him in. A crowd of officers then surrounds a young woman who is holding hands with a little girl aged about six. The child shouts out "freedom" and punches one tiny fist into the air. She is grabbed by police, starts to cry, and is pushed with the woman into a police car.

America's ridiculous economic inequality as told through pretty graphs. A huge share of the nation's economic growth over the past 30 years has gone to the top one-hundredth of one percent, who now make an average of $27 million per household. The average income for the bottom 90 percent of us? $31,244.

KABUL, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Taliban militants fighting Afghan and NATO-led troops surprisingly broke through to the fortified Kandahar prison and set free hundreds of inmates on Monday.

"Some 476 inmates made their escape from Kandahar jail early today," chief of Kandahar jail Ghulam Dastgir Mayar told Xinhua. "The prisoners using underground tunnel escaped from Kandahar prison and security forces have launched a huge search operation inside Kandahar City and some districts," Kandahar provincial administration said in a statement, adding that so far some escaped inmates have been rearrested.

Some 1,000 inmates were held in Kandahar jail, according to an official who declined to give his name. This was the fourth jailbreak in Kandahar prison over the past few years.

CNN: More than 400 prisoners have escaped from a jail in Kandahar
Uruknet: Afghan government officials confirm that some 540 Taliban members have escaped from Kandahar prison.

(NaturalNews) Censorship of the truth about what is really going on at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear facility has been taken to a whole new level of corruption. According to a recent report from the Shingetsu News Agency, the Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication (MIAC), in conjunction with the National Police Agency and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), has established a special project team to crack down on independent and freelance news agencies that criticize or otherwise scrutinize the official Japanese government position concerning Fukushima.

Soldiers prodded marshy ground with slender poles Monday as 25,000 troops scoured Japan's northeast coast for the bodies of nearly 12,000 missing people, in the largest search since last month's earthquake and tsunami.

The operation was the third intensive military search since the March 11 disaster, which splintered buildings, flattened towns and killed up to 26,000 people. With waters receding, officials hope the team, which also includes police, coast guard and U.S. troops, will make significant progress during the two-day operation.

In the town of Shichigahamamachi, a line of about two dozen Japanese soldiers walked in unison across soggy earth and muddy pools of water, plunging their poles about 2 feet (60 centimeters) into the muck to ensure that they don't miss any bodies buried below. The search focused on a marsh drained in recent weeks by members of the army's 22nd infantry regiment using special pump trucks.

In all, 370 troops from the regiment were searching for a dozen people still missing from Shichigahamamachi. The regiment had been searching the area with a far smaller contingent, but tripled the number of troops it was using for the two-day intense search, said Col. Akira Kun itomo, the regimental commander.